Fat City is no idle nickname, not in Italy. And Bologna, known as "la Grassa", takes its responsibility as its country's culinary capital seriously. Lunch in this relaxing medieval town can - and should - take two hours at least, dinner the best part of an evening.

Home of home-made pasta, Bologna is capital of the north-east region of Emilia-Romagna, squeezed between Lombardy, Tuscany and Veneto, which produces the most sumptuous food in the land. Lavish meat and cream sauces poured over lasagne or tortellini, it really is the stuff that dreams are made of.

And Bologna is perfectly laid out to stroll it all off afterwards. Its centre is constructed of 35km of neatly-lined, red-brick portico arcades - a medieval solution to overpopulation - with enough sights to keep you occupied. A museum or two (Bologna was a Europe 2000 City of Culture), a wander around the main piazza, Maggiore, and a climb up the tilting 12th-century twin towers of Asinelli/Garisenda for a panoramic view of the Apennine foothills, and you can satisfy yourself that you've earned the next slap-up meal.

Boredom shouldn't be a problem in Bologna - you're not in Milan now.

Leave room for afters

Benso's (Vicolo San Giobbe 3d, tel: 39 051 263 618).

A modest start to the big blow-out might be this cosy eaterie tucked away between Maggiore's neighbouring square of Nettuno and the twin towers.

To get a feel for the city, its history and its surroundings, take a climb up the 500 shallow, wooden stairs of the one of two leaning towers built next to each other by competing medieval dynasties. The Garisenda, which leans considerably more than its neighbour, suffered the indignity of having its top lopped off in the 1300s. The Asinelli, nearly twice as tall, at nearly 100m, offers a sublime view of the university quarter immediately below, the tiled city centre, rolling plains and hills beyond.

Search for a symbol

Down below, the focal point of the city are the twin squares of Maggiore and del Nettuno, lined with locals socialising in cafés in the shadow of three key palaces. Palazzo Re Enzo (former prison of the 13th-century King of Sicily); next to it, 18th-century Palazzo Podestà; and Palazzo Comunale, which houses the Museo Morandi (Piazza Maggiore 6, tel: 051 20 36 46, open Tues-Sun 10am-6pm, admission € 4.13). Here, Giorgio Morandi, Bologna's greatest artist of the 20th century, is honoured with a display of 200 works and a reconstruction of his studio.

Although Morandi might be a modern figurehead, the town's symbol has been attracting pigeons to its namesake square for more than 400 years: Neptune. Locals call Giambologna's imposing Neptune Fountain "The Giant", just as Piazza del Nettuno is known as Piazza del Gigante.

Find a patron

If Neptune is the symbol of Bologna, then San Petronio is its patron saint. The Church of San Petronio, a grand Gothic structure on the south side of Maggiore, was originally designed (by Antonio di Vicenzo) to be the biggest basilica in Christendom. Inside, the museum (open Weds-Mon, 10am-12.30pm, admission free) displays plans of what might have been. Giovanni da Modena's 15th-century frescoes - graphic, grotesque, gruesome - are still worth the diversion; don't miss either the bizarre astronomical clock, tracing the meridian line, inlaid in marble across the floor. Its precision points to the early scientific advances made at Europe's oldest surviving university, the nearby Archiginnasio.

Get smart

Archiginnasio (Via dell' Archiginnasio).

Quite remarkably, this is still a working institution. Umberto Eco - responsible for the cultural direction of Bologna's role as Europe 2000 City of Culture - still lectures here; and there's the original dissection theatre in the Faculty of Medicine, the Teatro Anatomico (open Mon-Sat 9am-1pm, admission free).

Shop, sip and scoff

Tamburini (Via Caprarie 1).

Dissection of a more delectable kind can be drooled at in the finest delicatessen in town. Right under the twin towers, Tamburini's displays of hams, cheeses, hand-made pastas and authentic bottles of balsamic vinegar can be slavered over, sampled, selected, then delicately wrapped.

This houses works by masters of the Bologna School: Vitale da Bologna, Tibaldi, the Carracci Brothers and Guido Reni. Ranging from the 14th to the 17th century, the impressive collection also includes Raphael's Ecstasy of St Cecilia.

Elegance and decadence

Around the university quarter, museums and medieval churches complement the academic harmony. The area, particularly around Via Zamboni and Piazza Verdi, is also the best to trawl for nightlife and less mainstream cultural events.

Daytime, though, it's Santo Stefano, and its complex of ancient churches, that proves the main attraction. Originally seven, four now stand in a huddle, including Santi Vitale e Agricola, Bologna's oldest. The town's most beautiful, Santa Maria dei Servi, stands nearby on Strada Maggiore, and contains Renaissance works by Antonio Montorsoli.

Music by the score

Conservatorio GB Martini (Piazza Rossini 2, tel: 051 23 39 75).

Another of Bologna's famous sons, Rossini, studied at the Conservatorio, on a square now named after the 19th-century composer. On display are original scores and manuscripts from one of the most important music libraries in Europe.

And save yourself for the splurge

Il Papagallo (Piazza della Mercanzia 3c, tel: 39 051 23 28 07).

After a couple of days of culture, you've earned the big blow-out, and this is the one you'll write home about. Local dishes of tortellini stuffed with cheese and spinach or ham, lashings of lasagne, delicate traces of balsamic vinegar (another regional speciality), Emilian boiled meats. Getting out could be a problem - getting in shouldn't, providing you reserve (closed Sundays and summer Saturday evenings). Do not expect to walk out, though, without parting with €60-80 a head.

Where to stay

Although not a tourist-oriented city, Bologna has a reasonable amount of centrally-located hotels.

The tourist office, Palazzo d'Accursio, Piazza Maggiore 6 (tel: 39 051 246 541, comune.bologna.it/bolognaturismo), can provide a list but not make reservations. If you're going to splash out, then book at the Grand Hotel Baglioni, near the railway station at Via dell'Indipendenzia 8 (tel: 39 051 225 445, baglionihotels.com, €300-460 a double), set in a 16th-century palace, where Humphrey Bogart, Ava Gardner and other Hollywood stars have slept. A baby-sitter service is among the many facilities.

Slightly cheaper but still medievally palatial is the Hotel del Commercianti (Via de' Pignattari 11, tel: 39 051 23 30 52, bolognaitaly.it, €200 a double); ask for a room with a view of San Petronio Basilica. Closed in January and February.

Way to go

Getting there: Go (0870 6076543, go-fly.com) flies to Bologna from £75 return. Travelscene (020-8424 9648, travelscene.co.uk) offers two- night weekend packages in Bologna from £306pp (valid up to May 28). The price includes scheduled Alitalia flights from Gatwick plus two nights' B&B at the centrally located San Giorgio hotel.